Kai Zan

Wow, another fabulus meal at Kaizan. The food is stunningly good. And the service was impeccable. One example is that the waiter noted that my date had a coughing fit and needed to step into the restroom. While she was in there he came over to ask me if there was anything he could get her, and then checked in with her as well once she came back out.
Outstanding all around.

Kai zan has been on my list of places to try for a while. My expectations were really high considering all the great reviews. I was really excited for a great adventure so we ordered the omakase. The service was friendly and quick. I enjoyed the first two dishes of the ten: the snapper carpaccio and escolar pearls. Both were well balanced dishes. As for the rest of the dishes, i wasnt that much of a fan. I am a bit bias toward more traditional nigri but the fish in the sashimi wasnt great quality. Roll was nothing more than a standard tuna and salmon roll with chilli (i hate when people add spice to cover fish quality). The escolar was a bit icy within the fish. Maybe on my next visit, i should try ordering a la carte sushi.

My absolute favorite sushi place in Chicago. Food is outstanding!

The best.
We came here after my husband’s coworker highly recommended it as the best sushi in Chicago. A casual Wednesday dinner we told ourselves. Hah.
We didn’t know much and decided we should try it tonight. When my husband tried to make reservations, he said open table didn’t have much. I figured I could call later and try and see what we could get. Maybe it’s more walk-​in?
First interaction with the restaurant was exceptional. I didn’t catch her name but the young lady who spoke to me was polite, patient and so so so helpful. For some reason when a hostess is like this at a busy place, I’m happily surprised. But impressed. She informed me they were booked solid, but just in case someone cancelled she took down my name, number and time of choice. 30 minutes later she called me with a cancellation and offered me the spot. I took it. Then a torrential downpour hit and getting home from work was impossible, let alone to dinner. 50 minutes of driving later (river north to west loop to Kaizan) we rolled in a little wet and super hungry, 20 minutes late.
Regardless of our delay, the same young lady checked in on us via phone while we parked and gently let us know they had reservations after us. We promised we would be out and completely understood. She was kind and patient with us as we walked in, slightly soaked. We were seated at the bar, and boy am I happy we were. This is no ordinary sushi spot. You are across from the action. Creative plates, focus, genius. I watched as twin chefs Melvin and Carlos plated each dish, more enticing than the next. It took all my will power to not sneakily chop stick pieces off the plates. Or steal some of Chef M’s white bottled sake (shhhhh).
We had an attentive, warm, nice server — Brian. So genuinely into the food. The service is top notch, unpretentious and wonderful. Chef Carlos even gave us this «polenta» dish that was taste bud heaven. I love the people who work here.
What did we eat? Edamame, shishito peppers, our first uni experience — nigiri style, white tuna (requested raw) pearls, hamachi nigiri (raw), beef skewer, sashimi trio of toro, salmon belly, an in season fish I can’t recall but delicious, «polenta» gift fish (omg), angry crab, and a bottle of hot sake to compliment. I may have missed something but I could’ve eaten more! Yum.
I can’t wait to go back. I’m doing the omakase and requesting bar seating. Raw fish perfection. There is a reason on a night like tonight (flooding, winds, darkness) this place was booked solid. It’s beyond. Go spoil yourself.
Wow. Thank you.

Kai Zan is one of the better places in the Chicago area where you can eat fresh sashimi. This is my second time eating here and I enjoyed my experience thoroughly. The service here is very fast, probably because you only have a set amount of time to dine. For two people, I believe it is around ninety minutes to finish your meal before you have to leave.
I ordered omakase both times I came here and noticed that a few menu items had changed. I was excited to see that this time, the orange rush was incorporated into the omakase menu. This was one of my favorite dishes that I had ordered a la carte the first time, but it added a hefty $ 10 to my bill. Overall, I thought the omakase menu allowed you to get a nice taste of many different items, however, not all of the dishes wowed me. My favorites were the escolar pearls and orange rush. Some misses for me were the oyster/​scallop shooters (I’m not a fan of shooters) and char siu (which was a bit too tough for me to enjoy). I also ordered the uni hand-​roll (not on the omakase menu) which looked spectacular, but for $ 28 I felt that it was a bit underwhelming. The uni was very fresh, however, and was a nice touch.
Make sure you save room for dessert! I almost think that the house-​made desserts are better than the fish!!! The green tea ice cream had an extremely strong green tea flavor which I loved. It did not taste artificial at all like many other green tea ice creams. The chocolate lava cake was pretty good as well and was a nice contrast to the ice cream.
If you just order omakase, the bill ends up being a bit over $ 80 per person which is certainly not cheap. I think it is a reasonable price for what you get and it is less expensive than what you would pay for a tasting menu at some other restaurants. Omakase was good, but some of the dishes were misses for me simply because I was not a fan of the ingredients. If I came back in the future, I would definitely order a la carte so that I can get foods that are more suited for my taste.

I decided to go for solo dining on my birthday and went to Kai Zan and tried their famous Omakase.
IT WAS FANTASTIC!
Every course they served was a piece of art. A couple of them that tickled all my senses were the shooters (I can still taste and feel this one. Just amazing!) and the scallop wrapped with salmon (heaven in my mouth) I wish I know all of their names, but it’s best to leave the excitement for first timers. Their fish is fresh and very, very good. Definitely a must try!
I sat at the bar, good choice to watch the chefs work their magic. Service was perfect, very comfortable. The place has a nice, quiet ambiance with the right amount of noise.
For the price of their very delicious Omakase, it’s THE best deal. The place is not as fancy but they obviously put all their pride and excellence in their magnificent dishes.

The best sushi in Chicago is here. I haven’t been obsessed with sushi since ever. These brothers are doing mind boggling combinations that are not normally found in sushi spots around the city or even nation. The wine list here is killer. Everything about this place is insane. From the wood work, to the pickled horse radish, to the expertly paired bottles of soy sauce.

Kai zan, Kai zan… what can I say. You are my food crush for LIFE. Every foodies dream come true. You make me want to bring someone special here to experience you JUST to witness their reaction.
I’ve followed Melvin and Carlo from old Kyoto to this place. I remember one late night a couple years back reading about this new Japanese place opening up in Chicago Magazine. These two brothers who pretty much made Kyoto a hot spot in Chicago where opening their own place. I knew right away it was Melvin and Carlo. They’ve changed the sushi game. True perfectionists. The MJs of sushi. The number one sushi spot in Chicago is this place. Everything they make is amazing. Go for the chefs choice, you won’t be disappointed. I’ve tried both ordering off the menu and chefs choice before. Chefs choice is exhilarating because you never get the same thing twice and they create items they haven’t even named and probably made up on the fly. These two are geniuses and presentation is beautiful which leaves you with a lasting impression.
One thing I crave daily is the Escolar pearls (Maguro pearls are great too) … Amazing!!! One night we ordered it 6 times. I’m brought my toughest sushi critics here and converted them over without even trying. The food speaks for itself. Favorite sushi spot in Chicago is KaiZan.

I have so many wonderful things to say about Kai Zan.
The food is awesome. One of our favorite places for Japanese we’ve discovered in Chicago so far. Also, very good value. We had the chef’s tasting menu for $ 60 and that was 10 really generous courses. We were stuffed by the end of it.
The service was great. Overall just loved the vibe, the fit-​out, the whole experience. We literally left dinner and the next day booked our next dinner here.

Such a unique experience. Definitely recommend doing the omakase. It’s $ 60 and we added uni for $ 5 more (worth it).
Make sure you make a reservation. I did feel like some of the courses came out too fast, would’ve liked a slower pace but overall deliciousness makes it worth it. $ 15 corkage fee is a nice too.
We ordered a separate dessert. It was the charred squash or deconstructed pumpkin pie as they called it. It was the only thing that night that didn’t knock our socks off. Would probably opt for dessert elsewhere after trying it.
Overall some of the highest quality sushi available in Chicago and a fun dining experience if you’re looking for a pri fixe dining option.

Might be the best sushi I’ve ever had. This was THE place that my friends wanted to take me during my most recent visit to Chicago. The restaurant itself is tiny, so if you miss your reservation, you’re out of luck.
We debated getting the omakase (chef’s tasting menu) as one of my friends has had it before and there were a couple of items he would have swapped/weren’t our preferences. We ended up going the a la carte route but ordering some of what would have been on the omakase, plus getting some additional suggestions from our server (thanks Arlene!). This allowed us to taste some of the best that Kai Zan has to offer while catering to our personal tastes and was comparable price wise.
For the benefit of you, my reader, I will share what we got — all of which were uh-​may-​zing. I was unsure if this would be enough for 3 people, but it was the perfect amount of food.
Escolar Pearls
Uni Toro Tartare
Angry Crab
Tempura Madai
Char Siu Kushi
Madai Carpaccio
Blue Fin Martini
Fiesta Roll
Special of the day (don’t remember)
And for dessert — sweet potato mochi

Honest review: (best sushi in chicago be warned its expensive to make reservation u have to give them ur credit card number n will be charges if u dont show up) been here three times i love sushi n all of the places in chicago this is by far the best. The ambiance is pretty perfect for date nights the service is top notch only had bad service one time. If ur looking for unique sushi that doesnt have imitation crab or cream cheese this is the place for you ps bring back the black bean ice cream plz! N plz put those cute edible orchids in dishes like before i miss that. If u dont wanna get the chef tasting menu order this exactly for the best meal of ur life: angry crab/​orange rush/​calamari/​escolar pearls/​flaming tuna roll duck on a stick/​pork belly/​collar of the day/​fried octopus/​grilled scallop nigiri/​for dessert Charred kabocha chocolate mouse and get the specials! Always get all of the specials
Miso soup: i liked this better then the tuna dashi. It has alot of mushrooms which i love the soup is really hot perfect when its cold the mushrooms arent cooked there in the soup raw but the heat of the broth makes them
Soft. Then theres tofu which is really interesting there so soft only complaint would be more depth of flavor its good but not to the point where id order again
Tuna dashi: this was okay not my fav its interesting it tastes like ocean water u know when u go swim n the water goes in ur mouth on accident thats what it tastes like wouldnt order again fix the fishy taste
Fried octopus: this was really flavorful the sauce was divine really rich really enhances the dish the octopus is really tender however i wish there was a bigger piece inside the bonito flakes werent an odd texture thats what made it perfect
Green monster: good but not enough filling in the middle
bbq eel: needs more filling
Fiesta roll: really delicious u could really taste the seafood then theres avocado nothings better then that in sushi. I didnt taste any jalepeno or the other mexican flavors though its not a bad roll just i was expecting jalepeno didnt get that
Wagyu pearls: omg food-​gasim the beef is cooked to perfect to the point where it melts in ur mouth. Then theres truffle on it this is so rich to the point where ur mouth feels like
Its in heaven
Fried chicken: its perfectly crisp to the point of sounding like photochips it isnt greasy at all the chicken was really tender. The problem was it had no sauce and was really bland actually. Put a sauce on plz!!! We asked for hot sauce n they gave us a mayo with chili oil that made it extra good with soy sauce added to for a much needed salt flavor
Orange rush: presentation so cute! This is one of my favorites i usually dont like acidic dishes because there to acidic but this isnt at all the orange flavor goes perfectly with the richness of the fish. The seafood is cooked perfectly
Grilled scallop nigiri: omg when scallops are cooked perfectly its like eating a cloud just melts in ur mouth the sauces went perfect with the fish to make it rich but not to overpowering a must order!
Tuna belly: if u never tried tuna belly order it now its better then any other tuna sushi u ever had before. This is really high quality topshelf tuna. Its cooked perfectly so it melts in ur mouth ur tastebuds will love u if u order this
Yaki soba: i was a little skeptical but its delicious this is the only dish where they give u a big portion. The noodles are cooked perfectly seasoned beautifully theres alot of texture i recommend ordering it with a meat
Char sui (pork belly) omg omg best pork belly ever! Its so good i love pork belly this by far was my favorite rendition of it. Its cooked perfectly so the fatty parts melt in ur mouth its not tuff at all. The sauce is to die for and the kimchi is kinda mild which it was more spicier n vinegary the sauce is to die for ask for extra though theres only a lil bit
Fish collar (salmon) {warning bones alot to the point where its easy to choke} omg order this! fish collar is the equivalent of a seafood ribeye. Its so rich like it has such a great fish flavor cooked perfectly the sauce adds a much needed salty richness u wont regret ordering this
Charred kabocha (best dessert ever) picture like a pumpkin pie but a 100 times better it was amazin the pumpkin was cooked perfectly not hard seasoned just right to remind u of thanksgivin. The icecream perfect texture complimented the pumpkin beutifully the best part was the pecan streusal amaizin so crunchy ask for more streusal though
Chocolate mouse: this was our second favorite dessert. Its really delicous the rice crispy is really cruncy tastes like a gormea cereal. The mouse is rich not bitter must order
Mochi: good homemade i only had this once so cant really comment on it
Apple pie shot: i feel its just crumpled up apple pie in apple cider the apple pie part is great the liquid was a lil bland nobody liked it

Must try uni tar tar, perfect for a first date.

These reviews don’t lie.
BEST. SUSHI. EVER.
GO. NOW! (Okay they’re temporarily close, but GO as soon as they re-​open!)
Highly recommend the Chef’s Choice/​Omaske especially if you like to try a bit of a everything on the menu.
What more can I say?
Delicious!

Who knew there is great sushi spot on Chicago avenue in Humboldt Park?! Actually, a lot of people knew and I am only finally in the know.
We did the ten course Omakase Menu ($ 60/​person) and added the two daily specials. The food was excellent. Some of the highlights include the sashimi platter, the tuna and escolar, the main course (octopus, a pork belly, shrimp and arrancini-​like ball) and the mushroom soup. The scallop shooter had a bit too much heat for my taste, but I loved the oyster shooter. The fish was very fresh and there were different dishes than I’ve had before. There was a great variety between the courses. With the two tasting menus and the extra specials, were were very full.
Service was excellent. We walked in a few minutes early and had a small wait for our table. In the meantime, we ordered a bottle of wine and had a glass while we waited which was a nice touch. Our waiter was friendly and helpful. My only complaint is sometimes I wish the courses slowed down a little bit. However, I understand that for a table of 2 they have a 90 minute policy to turn tables over.
It was great food and a great value. Our tab for two was about $ 200 with a bottle of wine and some sake. I’m always a bit hesitant to give 5 stars on the first visit, but they earned it. I can’t wait to go back!

I CANT EVEN
Was gonna go for Sepia but changed our mind last minute and was lucky enough to get reservation at 530 on a Saturday. I am sure Sepia is great and all but oh was this one of the best choices I have ever made in life.
Definitely go with chefs choice. 10 courses meal for $ 60, you get to taste quite a few of the signature dishes on the Manu. It was very hard to pick my favorite but the pearls were impeccable.
We ordered one tasting menu and a couple more dishes to share, we were both very full by the end of it. As a girl, I would have been overly stuffed if I ordered my own tasting course.
Our server was great. Helpful and friendly but not overwhelming. Food comes out very fast, one after another so you don’t need to worry about spending 3 hours there. Still an amazing amazing experience tho don’t get me wrong.
Everything is just perfect. The food is to die for and the service was just on point. I wouldn’t have dreamed for a better anniversary dinner.
Damn.

Phenomenal. I’m not often impressed by sushi restaurants because there is little to set most places apart. Kai Zan exceeded all of my expectations. The wait staff is amazing and extremely attentive.
Appetizers:
I highly recommend the dynamite mussels, which is part of their everyday menu. However, their off-​menu uni toro tartare appetizer was hands down one of my favorite dishes of the evening. It is served with raw quail egg, wasabi, and rice, which you mix together and wrap with dried seaweed. Both appetizers were enough to share between two people. Great way to start the meal!
The Chef’s Choice omakase was worth every penny and very very filling. There were a total of eight courses, so definitely dress comfortably and be prepared to eat.
Some of the omakase highlights:
Lightly grilled maguro and escolar (white tuna) with truffle infused dipping sauce — my favorite omakase course. The fish has a nice smokey quality to it without being «cooked»
Oyster and scallop shooter duo — served as a shot with quail egg, tobiko, and wonderfully tart ponzu sauce. Personally, I preferred the scallop, but both were delicious.
Angry crab — crab wrapped with tuna and topped with spicy mayo and crunchy tempura. I could eat an entire plateful of these.
Madai carpaccio — thinly sliced red snapper served with what tasted like balsamic vinegar, olive oil, tobiko, etc.
Char sui — braised pork belly with black garlic sauce and greens. The pork belly was cooked to perfection.
Lightly grilled tuna with fried polenta and seaweed — the different textures and contrast of hot/​cold complimented each other very well.
Although there were many other dishes served in the omakase, these were the ones that I would absolutely order again.
The desserts left a little to be desired, but I was impressed with the meal as a whole. I thought it was reasonably priced considering the sheer quantity of food and I will definitely be recommending Kai Zan to everyone I know.

Finally I got to try out this place for my birthday! Boy was it a treat!
My suggestion is to ask what the chef’s choice includes and if it floats your boat, go for it! That was exactly what I did. This way you are able to try out a little bit of everything on their menu. You won’t regret the decision, I promise. There was so much food and it almost seemed endless. In addition to the tasting menu, we ordered the uni toro tartare and dessert in the end.
One of my favorite dish of the night was the uni toro tartare! I love the DIY concept to this dish, and it almost seem endless. You just need to work for your food. Mix the tartare together really good and channel your inner sushi chef to make your own rolls.
As much of a turn off the time limit is when you make the reservations, I did not feel at all pressured during the service. We did take a bit of time to make a decision, but our server was very patient with us. He walked us through the menu and elaborated on any questions I had along with making great suggestions.
The pace was on point, however my ONLY critic is that from sitting at the bar and seeing how the kitchen flowed, what I noticed was the timing and preparation of the food. Some of the hot food was sitting there longer than I would have liked it because when I got my food expecting it to be hot, it was warm, if not almost cold. Of the hot food, only the soup and dynamite mussel were actually hot. Everything else minus the raw stuff were almost cold, which was a bit disappointing.
The concept of clean and simple flavors is what I left with at this place. The tasting menu flowed from simple to variety and back to simple again. Nothing distracted your palette of the original flavors. As the tasting menu ends with a showcasing a selection of sashimi, I thought was genius because the menu took you on such an adventure, but made sure to remind you of the origin with the main ingredients of the night, fish. Just the concept of something as simple as fish can be created and paired with different things, but yet alone it can still be appreciated.
To end this wonderful experience, we had a cup of green tea (FREE) and Cashew Panna Cotta. Not too sweet or heavy. Simple but yet so many textures and layers involved in just a little dessert. It was the perfect way to celebrate my birthday dinner! Cheers.

Best Omakase Ever!
I don’t know why I didn’t listen to everyone else in Chicago and made the trek to Kai Zan sooner. Like seriously, I’ve been missing out!!! I could write a book on how amazing it is, but please listen to the masses and come here pronto!
Let me say that they have converted me to an uni lover. I have never really been a fan of uni and now I know it’s because I’ve never had truly awesome uni. I love sushi and I’ll even tolerate subpar sushi but really this is out of this world amazingly fresh and creatively composed sushi!!!
I had their omakase with some food loving friends and now I feel like I can never go back and not get the omakase. It’s worth every cent and the chef even added an extra course with an off the menu item that still makes my mouth water when I think about it.
Service was amazing. They kept checking on us and explained every course that came out in detail. I have nothing bad to say. This is my new favorite for sushi!!!

This is really, really good. It’s most similar to having an Uchi (Houston/​Austin) smack dab in Chicago. Chicagoland is sorely missing good sushi omakases, and Kai Zan fits the mark. This is a fusion joint, but, and this is a big but, they pay a lot of attention to detail and source very high quality ingredients. For example, last evening I had a sushi omakase with Mitsu-​san himself at Sushi Yasuda in NYC, and I noticed Kai Zan was using some of the same exact ingredients (I could tell by the Japanese writing).
I did the premium omakase with a few additional dishes thrown in to placate my inner sushi cravings:
1) Seared salmon marinated in soy and mirin (⁴⁄₅) — interesting, almost smoky flavor. Very good ginger. Pickled wasabi.
— Note, a lot of their fish are fatty cuts, but often marinated. That is fine with me, as I imagine they might not get fish from Tokyo every day, and sushi is meant to be marinated :)
2) Raw wagyu beef with a touch of toro and caviar in a maitake mushroom sauce (⁴⁄₅) — this was almost an amuse bouche, in that it was one bite, I thought it should have come before the salmon
3) Pei wei served katsu style with sweet potato tempura (³⁄₅) — Pei wei (?) is a Brazilian fish, and it was fried with a curry flavor. I’m not as big on fried dishes, so I knocked this a point, but many people would probably like it. The black plate was a bit severe
4) Chawanmushi with rice chip, radishes and caviar (⁵⁄₅) — loved this. This is where I became very impressed. Very good egg custard, and the crispy rice was an interesting garnishment, which was meant to be broken into the soup almost like an oyster cracker
5) Wagyu beef seared with crisp greens (⁵⁄₅) — extremely strong. They source their waygu from Japan and it was cooked perfectly. This is reason enough for the premium omakase. I’m still salivating
6) Toro, lobster with uni, and hotate with truffle oil nigiri (4.5÷5) — I liked the nigiri course at this juncture, because they went with big flavors. Almost everything was marinated except the uni. The toro was delicious, and the hotate with truffle oil melted in my mouth
— The rice was very good with nice flavor, although a touch cold for me (should be room temperature or a bit above). They serve three pieces at a time, which isn’t a crime, but doesn’t necessarily shine (sorry for the rhyme)
7) Ika plus asparagus (³⁄₅) — This was a little dry compared to some of the other luscious dishes, although the pairing had an interesting crunch which served as an effective contrast to the oily aspect of the previous course
8) Hamachi kama (⁴⁄₅) — I added this, as I was craving a classic dish. The hamachi kama was cooked perfectly and was very juicy. There was a very good ponzu sauce and pickled cabbage. I enjoyed the miso soup with which it came (heavy on the tofu and mushrooms)
9) Marinated toro with pickled wasabi and sea salt (⁵⁄₅) — they go big on the toro here, and the pickled wasabi is a lot of fun. if you’re a fan of Hayakawa down in Atlanta, you’d appreciate it here, too
10) Cold smoked marinated Hamachi with pickled wasabi and micro greens and caviar (⁴⁄₅) — another strong dish, and it reminded me a lot of Uchi due to the smoke effect (think Jar Jar Duck of Uchi fame)
11) Sashimi plate — Hamachi belly, toro, madai served with pickled wasabi (⁵⁄₅) — loved this. Perfect cuts. All very delicious. I found it surprising to be served sashimi at the end, but the server made note of this that they like to mix it up, and since the flavors were so rich it held up nicely
12) Cucumber, king crab, uni roll (⁵⁄₅) — the chef comped this for me, which I found very kind. It was a refreshing dish, and the uni was so sweet which paired nicely with the crisp cucumber and delicious, succulent crab. It was almost a palette cleanser
13) Nigiri dessert course (³⁄₅) — uni, tamago, unagi. The uni was delicious. Straight from Santa Barbara. The tamago was not layered as tightly as I would have expected and the searing was too dramatic, which took away from the lightness of the egg. The unagi was BBQ’d too aggressively. They were out of anago
Service here is ⁵⁄₅. Everyone is extremely pleasant and even jovial. The chefs are not Japanese, but clearly have mastered many aspects of the craft and I did not notice any diminution of knife skills. They are very talented. The space is cool, although the sushi bar is not large so make sure you get your spot. I have this place tied with Katsu in Chicagoland for sushi omakase. Katsu, of course, is where to go for more tradition nigiri, albeit with gold leaf, and Kai Zan is where to go for a great time and a lot of different tastes